The decision to extend the First Home Scheme, the government-backed shared equity scheme, to self-builders is welcome, but key housing issues remain for rural communities, according to an Independent TD.
The extension to the scheme means that self-builders can access financial support of up to 30% of the total build cost of their home, to add to their self-build mortgage and deposit.
Independent TD for Laois-Offaly, Carol Nolan, said financial aid schemes which enable people to build and live in their own homes “should be supported”.
Self-builders
But Deputy Nolan has also warned that while these changes may benefit self-builders who want to build a home in their own rural community, there remain concerns over recommendations put forward in the Report of the First Revision of the National Planning Framework (NPF).
According to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, the extension to the scheme is “a particularly important development for people who live in more rural locations or come from a farming background and who have a site, but not the full level of finance they need to build their new home”.
The First Home Scheme scheme is available to qualifying homebuyers and self-build customers who are taking out mortgages from AIB (including its EBS and Haven Mortgages businesses), Bank of Ireland or Permanent TSB.
Planning guidelines
One of the key concerns highlighted by Deputy Nolan in relation to the First Revision of the National Planning Framework (NPF) is a recommendation that new rural housing should be directed towards “rural towns and villages” .
The expert group that compiled the report outlined that “the continued pattern of scattered individual dwellings across the countryside remains a challenging sustainable development issue for rural areas”.
However, Deputy Nolan does not agree with this view point.
She said: “I hold the clear view that people, especially those in rural communities, should not be over-burdened in terms of prohibitive planning guidelines around where they want to live.
“So, while the extension to this scheme is welcome and it reflects a measure of common sense, we also need to see that approach operating in the rural and once-off housing sphere.
“I have consistently maintained the position that it is the business of government to enable people in rural communities to put down roots in the rural communities that they come from.”
Deputy Nolan said that government should “not be in the business of making those kinds of choices a planning and regulatory nightmare with endless conditions attached”.